10 Pakistani Soldiers Die In Shootout With Al-qaeda Fighters

June 27, 2002|By Liz Sly Foreign Correspondent

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Ten Pakistani soldiers and two al-Qaeda fighters were killed Wednesday in a shootout in the remote tribal frontier bordering Afghanistan where the United States suspected al-Qaeda forces were regrouping.

In the first fatal clash reported between al-Qaeda fighters and Pakistani troops aiding the U.S.-led hunt, the soldiers, acting on a U.S. tip, came under fire overnight searching a suspected hide-out in the tribal area of South Waziristan, officials said.

Pakistani officials identified the two dead al-Qaeda fighters as Chechens. A 15-year-old boy, not Pakistani, was captured. An unspecified number of al-Qaeda fighters managed to escape, according to an army statement. Residents of the area estimated that six to eight fighters had escaped.

Hundreds of Pakistani reinforcements were dispatched later to pursue the fugitives.

The encounter provided the first evidence to support U.S. contentions that al-Qaeda fighters have taken refuge in the tribal region of Waziristan. A small U.S. force joined Pakistani troops in April to comb the region.

In Washington, U.S. officials said no American personnel were involved in this raid but that U.S. forces across the border in Afghanistan were put on alert to help if Pakistan requested it. It did not.

"We're in this fight together," said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

No more than 100 U.S. soldiers are thought to be helping Pakistani troops in the tribal regions, but their presence has stirred fierce opposition from tribes.

Since U.S. participation in several high-profile raids in Waziristan triggered armed demonstrations and calls for the soldiers to leave, U.S. forces have adopted an increasingly low profile, taking a back seat to Pakistani troops.

One military source, seeking to explain the high number of Pakistan casualties, said it appeared there had been an ambush. Residents of the area said the Pakistani troops were killed inside the walled compound of a tribesman's house after they entered it to negotiate the surrender of the fighters inside.

A brief army statement said only that the troops had sought to use "minimum force" because of the presence of civilians in the area.

These were not the first Pakistani casualties in the war against terror. Last December, seven Pakistani soldiers died after al-Qaeda prisoners they were escorting in a bus pulled out weapons and opened fire. Five prisoners escaped.